medium of exchange. In the capital anything "goes," but with the people at large the utmost conservatism is the rule. Even to this day the hundreds of Koreans employed at the American gold-mines in Unsan district refuse to touch Japanese paper money, and the company is obliged to send to various ports of the Far East to secure silver Japanese dollars, which have been withdrawn from circulation in Japan itself and are at a considerable discount everywhere. The Korean likes these because the value is intrinsic and does not depend upon any promise, no matter how solvent the government may be that backs the bills. He has had too much to do with governments to accept any such flimsy money as that! An amusing story is told of the unsophisticated Korean of the early eighties. In 1882, when the Japanese legation was burned and all its inmates were killed or else found safety in Chemulpo, one of the fugitives dropped in the street a hand-bag filled with Japanese bills. A Korean picked it up and examined the stuff, but could not imagine why the Japanese should want to carry away those scraps of tough paper. He took them home and papered his wall with them. Some time after this a friend, who had had some dealings with the Japanese at Fusan and knew what was what, happened to call, and he nearly fell in a fit when he saw what was on the wall, but he recovered, and managed to hold his tongue until he had effected the purchase of that house for three hundred dollars. He then tore from the walls upwards of six thousand yen. An even more amusing case was that of the merchant who was on his way up from Fusan with a large amount of paper yen sewed into the lining of his coat. Out jumped a highwayman on him in a lonely spot and demanded his money. He blandly replied that he had none. The robber was disgusted and exclaimed, "Well, then, give me that coat and you take this one." The poor fellow could do no less than comply. A little while after this the same robber held up a gentleman on the same road, and, finding him likewise impecunious, made another exchange of coats, as the gentleman was dressed in silk. The
